[JURIST] Videotapes show Guantanamo Bay [JURIST Hot Topic] military prison riot squads subduing some detainees by punching them, tying one to a gurney and forcing them to strip from the waist down, according to a report by investigators from the US Southern Command [official website] obtained by AP. Investigators found no signs of systemic abuse at Guantanamo, but concluded that the tapes raised questions about mistreatment of detainees. Several of the questionable clips showed riot team members punching a detainee repeatedly in a spot not normally used to subdue prisoners, kneeing a detainee in the head and repeatedly spraying a detainee with pepper spray. AP has more.

[JURIST] In Tuesday's environmental law news, the US House Committee on Resources [official website] has announced that it is expecting to vote on February 9 on a broad energy bill that would allow oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) [official website], speed up approval of drilling permits in areas already open to energy exploration, cut federal royalties on oil and natural gas wells, and promote the development of geothermal energy on public lands. Reuters has more.

In other news,

• The US National Institutes of Health [official website] has issued new regulations for all NIH staff scientists. The regulations prohibit NIH scientists from accepting consulting fees, speaking fees and any other form of income from all biomedical companies, professional societies and other outside entities. The scientists also must sell or otherwise dispose of any stock, or stock options, they hold in pharmaceutical or biotechnology firms. NIH has over 5,000 scientists that will be affected by the new policy. The LA Times has the full story.
  
  
• The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) [official website] seeks comments on a proposed rule [official text] that would list the Salt Creek tiger beetle (Cicindela nevadica lincolniana) [scientific info] as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 [text from FWS]. The beetle is believed to only live in the salt marshes along one creek in Nebraska. Comments can be made here until April 4.
  
  
• The FWS also seeks information [official request] on the karst meshweaver (spider), Cicurina cueva, in response to a petition that the spider be listed as endangered. Cicurina cueva is an eyeless, cave-dwelling spider that is believed to only exist in 2 or 3 caves around Austin, TX. Comments and information can be submitted here until May 15.
  
  
• The National Marine Fisheries Service [official website] seeks comments on its annual specifications [official text] for the 2005 Atlantic herring fishery. The herring fishery specs include such matters as determining the allowable catch, the optimum yield, and the limits on domestic and foreign herring processing. Comments can be made here until March 2.

[JURIST] Following up on a story reported earlier [JURIST report] today on JURIST's Paper Chase, Senate Democrats said Tuesday they will not try to filibuster the nomination of Alberto Gonzales [White House biography; JURIST Newsmaker] as attorney general, although they are expected to delay a final vote until at least Thursday. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid [official website] confirmed that Democrats would not stand in the way of a final vote on Gonzales following a weekly planning session. Reid said a substantial number of Democracts, likely between 25 and 30, would vote against Gonzales however. Democrats were expected to delay the final vote until Thursday to prevent President Bush from mentioning it in his State of the Union address Wednesday night. AP has more.

[JURIST] Following up a story reported earlier [JURIST report] today on JURIST's Paper Chase, the US State Department [official website] has welcomed the release of the UN report on the violence in Sudan [JURIST Countries], although it has maintained its characterization of the actions as genocide, contrary to the UN's conclusions. The US previously called the Sudanese government's actions in Darfur genocide in September 2004. Responding to the UN report Tuesday State Department spokesman Richard Boucher also said the US continued to advocate the creation of a special war crimes tribunal in Tanzania to try suspects involved in Darfur rather than endorsing the UN plan of using the International Criminal Court. Boucher also said the US supported the creation of a UN peacekeeping force to aid the African Union forces already present in Sudan. Read a transcript of the State Department press briefing. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Slovenia's National Assembly [official site] ratified the European Constitution [official website; JURIST Hot Topic] Tuesday with an overwhelming 79-4 vote in favor, making it the third country to do so following Lithuania and Hungary [JURIST reports]. The constitution requires ratification by all 25 member states before it takes effect in November 2006. Spain is the first major EU country set to vote on the constitution, with a referendum scheduled for Feb. 20. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Israel's attorney general said Tuesday that he had previously been unaware of the government's secret seizure of Palestinian property in East Jerusalem under a 1950 land law. Attorney General Meni Manuz [official profile] called the plan illegal and ordered the government to halt it, arguing the law did not apply since many Palestinians were being kept from their land due to Israeli security measures. The government, which had indicated it would reconsider [JURIST report] the policy, denied that Manuz had not been informed. Under the Absentee Property Law of 1950, Israel may seize Arab lands without compensation. Israel's Haaretz has more on the government land policy, which was made public last month. Haaretz has local coverage of Manuz's statement, and BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The British government has released an Egyptian man it had held since December 2001 without trial or charges, the Home Office [official website] reported Tuesday. The man, identified only as "C," was released from prison Monday because there was not enough evidence to hold him as a terror suspect, Home Secretary Charles Clarke said. No conditions were placed on C following his release. He had been held under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act [text], and his detention was up for review by the Special Immigration Appeal Commission [UK Court Service website] this week. The UK government released three other detainees, a Palestinian and two Algerians, on Monday. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Leading Tuesday's corporations and securities law news, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) [official website], who have been examining the trading schemes Enron [corporate website, JURIST Hot Topic] employed on Western power consumers, contend that the energy giant should be forced to relinquish all profits, some $1.9 billion, earned in that region between January 1997 and June 2003. Just last summer the commission ordered Enron to repay $32.5 million after learning the company had attempted to manipulate the power market when it failed to disclose a business relationship with El Paso Electric Co [corporate website]. The Houston Chronicle has more and continuing coverage on the Enron collapse.

In other news...

• As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, the Federal Trade Commission [official site] reported that for the fifth year in a row, identity theft topped the list of most reported frauds as the number of complaints about identity theft increased 15 percent from the previous year, and represents about 40 percent of all complaints received by the FTC. Read the FTC report [PDF]. Reuters has more.
  
  
• SBC Communications Inc. announced that it will cut around 10,000 jobs as a result of its $16 billion acquisition [terms of the deal] of AT&T Corp [corporate website]. SBC has a webcast and supporting materials [PDF] related to the acquisition. Reuters has more.
  
  
• American Express Co. [corporate website], the world's fourth-largest credit card issuer, will spin off its broker financial advisory unit in an attempt to better compete with Visa [corporate website] and Mastercard [corporate website]. Read the American Express press release. Bloomberg has more.
  
  
• Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates [official biography] said the software company will still cooperate with the European Union order [text] against the company despite the complications posed by the ruling. AP has more.
  
  
• Adolph Coors Co. [corporate website] shareholders have approved the company's merger with Molson Inc [corporate website]. The new entity will form the number five brewer in the world. Read the Coors press release. CBSMarketWatch has more.
  
  
• Citigroup's [corporate website] huge trades in the eurozone government bond market last August have come under intense scrutiny after the leaking of a memo from the company's chief executive Charles Prince [official biography] which spelt out how the US investment bank could very profitably destabilize the market. The aim of the memo was to "turn the European Government bond market into one that more closely resembles" the US Treasury bond market. The memo will most likely fuel indignation in eurozone governments and also may weigh against Citigroup in regulatory investigations of the trades, being led by Bafin of Germany and the UK's Financial Services Authority [official website]. The Financial Times has more.

[JURIST] Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler [official profile] Tuesday introduced what he termed "landmark legislation" to legalize same-sex marriage in Canadian federal law. Cotler described the Civil Marriage Act [background from Canada's Department of Justice] as protecting both minority rights and freedom of religion, so "that no religious officials will be forced to perform marriages that are contrary to their beliefs." Opposition Conservative politicians responded that the act did not go far enough in the latter respect, pointing out that the proposed legislation would not protect civil marriage commissioners in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, who have been told they must perform same-sex ceremonies or lose their jobs. As well as extending the legal capacity to marry to same-sex couples, the package of legislation amends eight other federal acts to extend a variety of marital rights to gay couples, including income tax measures, business and investment benefits and the right to divorce. The legislation comes after the Supreme Court of Canada issued an advisory opinion [text] last December, allowing the government to provide for same-sex marriage. CBC News has more.

[JURIST] Haiti's interim election council has called for national elections on Nov. 13 to fill the gap created last year by the ouster of elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide [BBC profile]. Local elections are scheduled for Oct. 9. Aristide supporters have threatened an election boycott if so-called political attacks [BBC story] continue. The UN plans to to send a team to assess the situation leading to the election. The presidential and parliamentary elections will be followed by a second round on Dec. 18, with the new president and chamber due to take office in January and February of 2006. UN elections officials predict that there may be as many as 100 presidential candidates running for office in Haiti. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Abdul Hussein al-Hindawi, chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq [official website], said Tuesday that a final vote count from the January 30 election would be announced in "a few days." The IECI had previously estimated the vote count would take 7 to 10 days, but results are now expected sooner. The final count began Tuesday, and already Hindawi said the votes had been counted for several southern provinces along with most of Baghdad. Hindawi also acknowledged there had been some problems in Sunni areas north of Baghdad. The tallies will be resubmitted to the provinces in case of any discrepancies in the local count and the one done at the IECI's national centre, Hindawi said. AFP has more. JURIST offers a backgrounder on the Iraqi elections.

[JURIST] For the fifth year in a row, identity theft topped the list of most reported frauds, the Federal Trade Commission [official site] reported Tuesday. The number of complaints about identity theft increased 15 percent from the previous year, and reprsesent about 40 percent of all complaints received by the FTC. The increased reports of identity theft seem to contradict an independent report released earlier this week by the Better Business Bureau [official site], which indicated that online identity theft had leveled off. Additionally, reports of internet auction scams have doubled since 2002. Overall, the FTC states that US consumers lost $547 million in various scams last year, with the average loss per incident at $214. MSNBC has more. The full report [PDF] is available from the FTC.

[JURIST] Senate Democrats said Tuesday that they plan to take a tough stance on President Bush's proposed judicial appointments [pending White House nominations; current judicial vacancies], and commented that some Democrats regret not having blocked even more appointments. During Bush's first term, Democrats blocked votes on 10 appointments to the courts and confirmed more than 200. Last November, Republicans threatened to change long-standing Senate rules [CBS report] to strip Democrats of their ability to block votes. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid [official site] announced, "If they bring back the same judges we're going to do the same thing." AP has more.

[JURIST] In an agreement with prosecutors, Sgt. Javal Davis, 27, pleaded guilty Tuesday as anticipated [JURIST report] to dereliction of duty, battery and making a false official statement to Army investigators in connection with maltreatment of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The guilty pleas were entered after Col. James Pohl, the military judge, rejected efforts by Davis' lawyer to get all of the charges dismissed. Davis was scheduled to go to trial tomorrow. AP has more.

[JURIST] White House spokesman Scott McClellan Tuesday denied reports that Secretary of Homeland Security nominee Michael Chertoff [DOJ resume], a former Justice Department official, advised the CIA on the use of certain torture techniques on terror suspects. McClellan said Chertoff did not approve any tactics, and instead told intelligence officials that interrogation tactics should not come close to crossing the line into unapproved techniques. Chertoff is scheduled to appear for confirmation hearings before the Senate Wednesday, with approval likely. Chertoff, who previously headed DOJ's criminal division and currently sits on the US 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, told lawmakers Monday that any advice he gave was broad and general. The New York Times reported Saturday [text; registration required] that Chertoff had advised the CIA on the legality of certain tactics. AP has more.

[JURIST] Members of Sudan's National Assembly unanimously approved a peace deal with Darfur rebels Tuesday, designed to end more than two decades of conflict between Khartoum and the southern region of the country. The deal was reached [JURIST report] earlier this month in Kenya between officials from the government and the People's Liberation Movement. The deal ultimately calls for a referendum in six years in the southern portion of the country, as well as sharing of oil revenues between the two factions. Some 1.5 million people have been killed in the conflict, which broke out in 1983. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of events in Sudan [JURIST Countries]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The full US Senate [official website] Tuesday began debate on the nomination of White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales [White House biography; JURIST Newsmaker] for attorney general, with a vote expected to be held Thursday. Gonzales' nomination was narrowly approved [JURIST report] by the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 10-8 vote last week. Watch a live webcast of Senate proceedings. Meanwhile Amnesty International [official website] today urged Senators to delay any vote until Gonzales offers more complete answers regarding his involvement with the government's policy on torture. AI, which has not taken a position on the Gonzales nomination, issued an open letter [text] to senators, in which it said the closeness of the Judiciary Committee's vote and ambiguity of Gonzales' answers in response to questions on torture left some doubt about his nomination. Gonzales earlier provided Judiciary Committee members with written responses [JURIST report] to certain questions that were not answered during the question session. Other human rights groups have come out against Gonzales [JURIST report] for attorney general. Read an AI press release.

2:20 PM ET - Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy spoke against Gonzales' nomination during debate at the Senate today. In his statement, Leahy said:

Ultimately, the Attorney General’s duty is to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law — not to work to circumvent it. Both the President and the nation are best served by an Attorney General who gives sound legal advice and takes responsible action, without regard to political considerations — not one who develops legalistic loopholes to serve the ends of a particular Administration.

[JURIST] The trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic [ICTY case backgrounder; JURIST Newsmaker] was delayed again Tuesday after Milosevic contracted the flu, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website] reported. Presiding Judge Patrick Robinson is scheduled to decide the length of the latest delay later today after doctors report on Milosevic's condition. Milosevic's war crimes trial has been continually interrupted by the former leader's health problems, which include heart ailments and high blood pressure. The health issues were sufficient for the tribunal to appoint two lawyers last fall to represent Milosevic, who had been representing himself, but he won back his right to represent himself in November. Reuters has more.

11:40 AM ET - An ICTY press advisory is now available.

[JURIST] Spanish authorities Tuesday arrested four suspects linked to the Madrid train bombings [JURIST Hot Topic]. All four arrested were Moroccan nationals, and authorities believed they were part of the Moroccan Islamic Combat Group, a terrorist group. The four, who were named as husband and wife Allal Moussaten and Safia Belhadj, Brahim Moussaten and Mohamed Moussaten, were arrested early in the morning in Leganes, a Madrid suburb. Spanish officials have arrested 18 in connection with the March 2004 attacks that killed 191. Only one person has been tried and convicted so far. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Russian independent newspaper Kommersant [official website] protested a court judgment against the publication by leaving its Monday editions blank, save for an upside down copy of the court's opinion and several other satirical items. The court issued an $11.4 million ruling against Kommersant for suggesting that Alfa Bank was having financial difficulties in a story published in July. In addition to the text of the court's ruling, Kommersant's Monday edition featured a picture of Alfa's principal shareholder shaking hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kommersant plans to appeal the ruling, which amounts to about 70 percent of its assets. Read Kommersant's court-ordered retraction [text] of its previous article on Alfa. The Washington Post has more [registration required].

[JURIST] The Malaysian government [official website] has delayed arresting illegal immigrants after threatening a major campaign against hundreds of thousands of foreign workers once a three-month amnesty period closed Monday. Malaysian Home Secretary Azmi Khalid said arrests had been avoided because many illegal immigrants had left voluntarily [JURIST report] in the face of impending arrest. The program had also been opposed by the Indonesian government, as many Indonesian workers would have been forced to return. For the time being, authorities were simply advising illegal immigrants to leave, but the government did not say when it would begin making arrests. The government has been trying to reduce the illegal immigrant population in the country, which remains more than a million, since 2002. The deportation plan was criticized [Amnesty International report] by human rights groups as lacking adequate safeguards against abuse of the immigrants. Malaysian news agency Bernama has local coverage. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] After summoning the Prime Minister for an emergency meeting [Himalayan News Service report], Nepal's King Gyanendra [BBC profile] sacked the country's government Tuesday and declared a state of emergency, cutting phone lines, shutting down the airport and sending armed vehicles on patrol. In a formal announcement King Gyanendra said, "I have decided to dissolve the government because it has failed to make necessary arrangements to hold elections by April and protect democracy, the sovereignty of the people and life and property." Insisting he was committed to democracy and multi-party rule, King Gyanendra indicated that he would form a new cabinet. Several prominent government and political leaders, including Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba [official profile] have been placed under house arrest. Communist Party leader Madhav Nepal, now also under house arrest, called King Gyanendra's efforts a coup d'etat, saying that "If the king is really acting in the interest of the people and the nation, he could have talked to us and he could have shown his concern over the worsening security situation here. But the king has not talked to any of the people. He has sacked the present government and he is blaming all the political parties." BBC News has more, along with an analysis of the implications of King Gyanendra's move. Nepal has been wracked by a nine-year Maoist rebel insurgency during which more than 10,000 people have died; just last week, visiting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour chastised the Nepalese government [BBC report] for not doing enough to end human rights abuses in the area. Many observers have suggested that the security situation in the country would make the holding of any elections impossible. Nepal has been without an elected Parliament since the last one was dissolved in 2002.

2:10 PM ET - Read UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement [text] on the situation in Nepal.

[JURIST] Continuing a story first reported yesterday on JURIST's Paper Chase, a UN report on whether genocide has been committed in Sudan [JURIST report] has accused the Sudanese government and its militia allies of killing, torturing and raping civilians in the Darfur region, but says that a policy to commit genocide had not been formed. A finding of genocide [UN backgrounder, BBC News analysis] would have imposed a legal obligation to act on the parties to the international Genocide Convention [text]). The report, released after its basic point was leaked Monday by Sudanese officials, nonetheless insisted that "The conclusion that no genocidal policy has been pursued and implemented in Darfur by the government authorities, directly or through the militias under their control, should not be taken in any way as detracting from the gravity of the crimes perpetrated in the region." The report recommends that a number of alleged war criminals designated in an accompanying list should be put on trial, with proceedings to be held at the International Criminal Court [official website] rather than a specially created war crimes court for Darfur, the approach favored by the US. BBC News has more.

9:25 AM ET - Rebels in Darfur Tuesday criticized the UN report for not finding that the Sudanese government and Arab militias in Darfur had committed genocide. Rebel leaders called the report's findings "political," and said the UN had not considered all available evidence, such as mass graves in the region. They did, howerver, welcome the UN-recommended prosecution of government and militia officials for war crimes. Reuters has more.

11:40 AM ET - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has released a statement [text] on the UN commission report on Sudan.

2:05 PM ET - The complete report [text, PDF] is now available online.

[JURIST] Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Tuesday, Feb. 1.

The US Senate [official website] convenes today at 9:45 AM ET for regular business and to consider the nomination of Alberto Gonzales [official biography; JURIST Newsmaker] for attorney general. Watch a live webcast of proceedings. The US House of Representatives [official website] will open its daily session at 2 PM ET, with a live webcast available via C-SPAN.

The Heritage Foundation [official website] will hold a conference with Attorney General John Ashcroft [official biography; JURIST Newsmaker] at 11 AM ET. A live webcast of the event is available.

The Canadian government [official website] will today introduce legislation in the House of Commons to legalize same-sex marriage. Watch a live webcast via CPAC beginning at 10 AM ET. CBC News has more.

Slovenia's National Assembly [official website] will vote on the European Constitution [official website] today, with approval likely. EU Observer has more.

At the UN, Iraqi UN Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie will hold a press conference at 11 AM ET, with a live webcast available. The Security Council [official website] will hold a session beginning at 3:00 PM ET, in which it will discuss the situation in Côte d’Ivoire [JURIST Countries]. Watch a live webcast of the proceedings.

At the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, trials continue today for Slobodan Milosevic [ICTY case backgrounder] and Fatmir Limaj and others [ICTY case backgrounder]. A webcast of the Milosevic trial will begin at 9:30 AM local time [3:30 AM ET], and a webcast of the Limaj trial is scheduled for 2:45 PM local time [8:45 AM ET].